Can KA-50 avoid detection?

Let me just switch my mk 1 eyeball to a 12 bar scan!

Oh yeah, I've had heli's pic me up from behind large hills. The AI is ALL SEEING.

Yikes.

They are not all seeing... They are somewhat smart... but not all seeing.

Well, they must have spies. Because I can start a mission with enemy heli's set to patrol a small base beyond some tall mountains. I can fly NOE a few feet above the ground keeping the hills between me and them, so they can't possibly see me. Yet if I switch to the camera to view what they are doing, they are already starting to head towards me! LOL, they know EXACTLY where I am! You can't sneak up on the AI.

I haven't played that mission in many months, but I assume it's probably still the same. It's like most FPS games I play. The enemy can see through ANYTHING.

It's like someone above said, the AI needs to use raycasting to see if it's sight is blocked by solid objects. Just watch the tanks as you are moving behind trees. They can't possibly see you, yet their turrets will track you.

Not mentioning that AI RIO in the f-14 have super x-ray vision so the game AI is even freakier....

If the Jester would know how to use the radar, and not lose a lock after few seconds launching a missile at target 25nm distance against clear sky, not maneuvering etc... It would be nice.

I can spot a Mig-23MLA from a 25km distance against a sky, and not until at 8-6km does Jester not see them with radar (hot, at same altitude) but then suddenly spots them visually.

t's like someone above said, the AI needs to use raycasting to see if it's sight is blocked by solid objects. Just watch the tanks as you are moving behind trees. They can't possibly see you, yet their turrets will track you.

Such thing is at least coming to a Mi-24 Co-Pilot AI. Saw the sample of the algorithms and idea and it looked right direction they are going.

The ground AI should be mostly blind when not alerted, and when alerted, then scan the sky at the same way as the F/A-18C radar is simulated with a narrow radar cone, but this time a 2 degree field of view. Rapidly bounce around the some positions through the possible zones they can see from inside the vehicle. So if you have a MBT on the ground, they will see nothing from inside unless you are kilometer or two above trees and they are directly looking at you. They have better change to spot you with a TIS than naked eye. Why you should be fairly free to operate around the most armored vehicles. So if the AI is not alerted and searching, no need to simulate such a heavy searching patterns etc. And it can be limited by cheating that if you are not anyways on the range (lets say you hover at 8km and launch ATGM at them, they will not see you no matter what!) then it is not performed. So it is simple "No possibility, no simulation / possible, run simulation checking when they would spot you".

And when someone spots you, there should be a few seconds delay that the spotting crew member will get the direction, altitude and range informed to the commander and gunner, that would take a few seconds to find you by themselves (if not already done) and then a few seconds for them to report their finding over radio to their platoon. And then again a multiple seconds that the platoon units will understand the direction, range and altitude an start scanning and possibility to spot you.

This all would mean that ambushing a armored colonna that is unalerted, would not be able to spot you from 2-8km distance unless you are clearly against a sky and on obvious location. The colonna would more likely be alarmed from ambush and in the panic all the vehicles would be driving to nearest air cover, to hide and conceal themselves from the attack from where ever it came.

No one would stop next to road and start aiming their weapons etc if air threat is not just under 1-2 km range and already spotted and well informed where threat is. As first primary task would be defense and nothing is better than drive deep in the forest or between buildings etc if not knowing the direction of attack.

If the direction of attack is known (like air threat is South/South-West) then all would drive to cover that hides them from that direction or denies the missile guidance.

And one of the major problems in DCS is that every colonna is on the move like on the urban combat, having just a couple meters separation and waiting to get a single bomb to kill all! In urban combat you want tight formation so you can quickly react and respond to ambushes, offer support to any direction from below to rooftops and quickly as well get around the corners and off the streets etc.

In open areas it is opposite depending the marching order, 300-800 meters separation is not unheard, sometimes visual distance is maintained to vehicles forward and rearward, and at least on every turn the visual is maintained to vehicle coming at rear if there is no soldier guiding the turn. That way air attack has extremely low change to destroy more than one vehicle, and that is extremely dangerous as pilot opens possibility to fly well inside a NEZ of marching group local air-defense and be dead in seconds.

A attack helicopter pilot would not be anymore successful in that, maybe get a 1-2 vehicles destroyed if possibility opens. As the time between destroying one (or worse, missing one) and capable aim the second is so long that once group alarms from air threat, all moves to closest air cover, troops are unmounted and selfdefense is set. It is literally less than a minute when you have MANPADS out, HMG set and dozens of ears and eyes looking for you. And at that moment as well the incident is reported to central command where a air patrol is issued to location in couple minutes and then their response time to arrive to location is minutes as well, unless already nearby.

So now what we have in DCS is that people fly with full load of ATGM, rockets etc, and then try to waste everything they see, destroying whole companies alone. And the AI is so stupid that after one getting hit, they just scatter around like teens on campfire and wait to get blowed up (default 600 seconds, that is 10 minutes!!!!).

The AI should have at least SOME basic tactics and surviving elements in it, without requiring to do scripting or any other heavier stuff.